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Common Video Blogging Mistakes

Video blogging is very popular today for both bloggers and viewers. People love seeing and listening to video. In fact, videos are more likely to be shared than plain text. Also, at the time of this writing, Google ranks video higher than text in search. If you also include a textual description, you’ll help push the rank even higher.

However, there are some video blogging mistakes that you’ll want to avoid. Here are ten of the most common.

1. Not Indicating That a Video Is Included – It’s a good idea that when you embed a video in a blog post, you indicate that one is there in the title. Some do it this way, (video) and some people do it this way, – it’s up to you, and it is helpful to your viewers.

2. Not Including a Text Description of What Will Be Included – Don’t just embed your videos without providing your viewers with some sort of idea of what is going to be included in the video. It’s a good idea to summarize what’s in the video, providing the main points you’ll cover.

3. Not Personalizing the Video in Some Way – While when you’re starting out you might not know how to do much, you can easily use editing software to add some sort of personalization to your videos. If not, at least have a nice background behind you while you’re recording and mention your website at the end.

4. Forgetting to Include a CTA – Calls to action are imperative to make sales and get new clients. Whether you are asking them to share or like your video, or you’re asking them to check out what you offer on your website, be sure to ask. If you don’t ask, you won’t be likely to get.

5. Making Videos That Are Too Long – Sometimes a long video is a good thing, but most of the time it indicates poor planning and rattling on and on without a direction. Determine on a case-by-case basis when a longer video is necessary but in general, keeping your videos short is best. Some experts say 3 to 5 minutes is plenty.

6. Not Knowing What Your Video Will Cover – Before you make a video, if you map out what you will talk about, you’ll be more likely to remember to cover what you planned. Writing a script is a good idea just so you know what to cover, but avoid reading it or you’ll sound fake. Talk from your heart about each point.

7. Not Including Other Things to Look At – Looking at just one person talking can be very boring. If you can show slides, or real-life images and examples, it will help a lot with keeping the interest of your audience.

8. Including Stolen Music or Images – You must use the right type of music or images. In fact, if you use anyone else’s work at all, you must use it appropriately under copyright and fair use laws. You can’t just take music or images (or anything) that doesn’t belong to you and use it in your video.

9. Using Distracting or Loud Music over Your Voice – A lot of people add music to their videos and that is a nice touch, but sometimes it can distract from your message, as well as drown out your voice.

10. Not Doing Videos Regularly – If you want to build an audience, it’s important to put out videos with some sort of regularity. People will grow to expect to see a video from you and know what’s going on with you. Don’t disappoint them.

Video blogging can push your blog to the next level if you take the time to do it right. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be professional, stay on topic, remember to include a CTA and promote each video.